Law.com: Judge Martin Feldman is "fair, terrifying."

 Judge Martin Feldman, the judge who schooled the Obama regime on the rule of law and handed down a harsh, scathing ruling on Tuesday is profiled today on Law.com.  The profile describes a jurist who is stern, uncontroversial, fair and at times...  "terrifying."

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The judge who blocked the Obama administration's moratorium on deep-water oil drilling has a reputation as a stern jurist, but until now he has sparked little controversy during his 27-year judicial career.

With a reversal record since 2000 that is the second-lowest among the judges of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Martin Feldman has navigated his position without much drama. Within the New Orleans legal community, the 1983 Reagan appointee has a reputation for demanding exactness and little tolerance for missteps from the attorneys who appear in his court.

"He can be terrifying," said a New Orleans attorney who didn't want to be identified because the judge has presided over some of his cases.

Since 2000, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed Feldman 10 times, affirmed 107 out of 159 of his decisions and dismissed 24 appeals.

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According to one of the attorneys quoted in the article, you don't go into his courtroom unprepared, which is almost certainly what Eric Holder's DOJ lawyers did earlier this week.

The Obama regime--from the head man down to the least litigator in the DOJ--is a bunch that is swimming in a sea of their own arrogance.  They don't believe there are any checks on their power, and they clearly underestimated the 27-year veteran jurist.

Earlier today, Judge Feldman dealt the regime another blow--denying their petition to stay his injunction pending appeal.  This clears the way for Andarko, Noble, Shell and others to re-mobilize their equipment and resume drilling.  No one has yet announced plans to do so, but with the Government now facing a less than likely chance that Feldman's decision will be overturned, they're probably warming up the engines, stocking the galley with provisions, and putting the crews on standby.

Drill baby, drill!

UPDATE: Judge Feldman is now receiving death threats, and, according to the Bayou Buzz, the attacks on his impartiality are entirely baseless slander:

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If Feldman held financial interests in any of companies involved in the lawsuit or the Deepwater Horizon rig, he would not have been allowed the take the case. The 5th District Court uses a sophisticated computer system to check whether judges have a conflict of interest in any legal proceeding. This system automatically determines whether a judge needs to be recused from a particular case. In this lawsuit, Feldman was allowed to take the case because he did not own any stock related to the parties involved.

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It's been a real tough day for the Büro des Zentralkomitee.

Companies accuse Obama regime of violating court order

Several companies accuse the Obama regime of violating Judge Feldman's order barring enforcement of the drilling moratorium.

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Several companies say the Obama administration is ignoring a judge's decision to strike down a six-month ban on deepwater drilling.

Attorneys for the oilfield service companies said in court papers Wednesday that Salazar's comments have had a chilling effect on the resumption of drilling.

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It's not yet clear whether DOI or USCG have prevented the movement of any vessels or ordered rigs to return to port.

UPDATE: Reuters has more:

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"Secretary Salazar's comments have the obvious effect of chilling the resumption of OCS (Outer Continental Shelf) activities, which is precisely the wrong this court sought to redress through its preliminary injunction order," the companies said in their request to Feldman filed on Wednesday.

Obama administration officials "have chosen to ignore and disobey it," they said.

They asked Feldman to order the administration to "refrain and cease and desist from any additional effort to continue their enforcement of the moratorium."

The companies asked the judge to hold an emergency hearing as soon as possible

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I'm leaving the headline as is--being accused of "ignoring and disobeying" a court order is the same as being accused of violating it.

But it's also likely that no on-the-ground officials have given verbal or written instructions stopping the plaintiffs from resuming pre-moratorium activities. Also, given the uncertainty associated with the appeals process, it's not likely that Andarko, Noble, Shell and others are mobilizing their deepwater assets back to their prospect holes yet.  The plaintiffs--oilfield services companies--essentially want Judge Feldman to issue a gag order to Secretariat Salazarovich.  He's running around Senate Committee rooms talking about a moratorium that's "in place," and such language, according to the plaintiffs, is keeping their clients in port and keeping their boats in port by extension.

Should be an interesting day tomorrow.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Secretariat Salazarovich: I will give you Deepwater Moratorium 2.0, peasants!

As early as Sunday, the Obama regime is expected to hand down Deepwater Drilling Moratorium 2.0.  In a statement issued late yesterday afternoon,секретариат Salazarovich angrily exclaimed to the Gulf Coast's oil and gas industry: "We will bury you!"

This of course, comes after US Federal Judge Martin Feldman scolded the regime for its heavyhanded and overbearing Deepwater Drilling Moratorium 1.0 and granted a request for an injunction barring enforcement of a sweeping six-month ban on offshore drilling. Feldman beat the Department and Secretariat Salazarovich about the head, neck and shoulders area using the tried and true bludgeon you and I know as the "Rule of Law."

But this regime, this Büro des Zentralkomitee, is possessed of an arrogance that is as breathtaking as it is alarming.  Salazarovich's statement, and Press Secretariat Robert Gibbsochev's comments yesterday to the media TASS show that they didn't seem to get Judge Feldman's point:

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Salazar pointed to indications of inadequate safety precautions by industry on deepwater wells. "Based on this ever-growing evidence, I will issue a new order in the coming days that eliminates any doubt that a moratorium is needed, appropriate, and within our authorities."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Obama believes that until investigations can determine why the spill happened, continued deepwater drilling exposes workers and the environment to "a danger that the president does not believe we can afford."

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Did they even bother to read Judge Feldman's ruling?  Oh, wait...

We already know why the spill happened.  BP made a series of risky decisions to cut corners down hole and the Obama regime's Department of Interior rubber stamped it.  Boom.  We also know why they can't get the spill under control.  BP's spill response plan was crap and no one in the Obama regime has the balls to take executive command of the situation.  Slosh. 

What we don't know is why the Politburo in Washington thinks that Judge Feldman isn't likely to issue a subpoena sua sponte and have Salazarovich appear before the Court and in a hearing to show cause why he should not be held in contempt. 

Extra Point:  Appeals courts almost never substitute their analysis of a case's facts for the analysis of the trial judge, just as the trial judge is not to substitute his judgement for that of the agency.  Feldman found no link between the evidence produced by the agency and the punitively broad nature of the moratorium. The appeals court is not going to reverse the decision based on analysis.  They will only overturn his decision as a matter of law, not of fact.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.